Yalkara
::"There was nothing soft in Yalkara; she was as hard as the Whelm's black metal jag-swords." ::―Xervish Flydd Yalkara, pejoratively known as the Mistress of Deceits and the Demon Queen, was a member of the Hundred Charon who escaped the void and took control of Aachan. She was considered to be the second greatest of the Charon. Biography Early Life Born within the void itself, Yalkara was the youngest of the Charon to survive the taking of Aachan. It was through the actions of Yalkara herself, that it was possible for the remaining two hundred Charon to flee the void to Aachan in the first place, as she discovered the chthonic fire within an exploded comet in the void. Though she was cautioned by Rulke not to use the fire as it was the soul-core of the Stilkeen, Yalkara proceeded to use it anyway, as it possessed the innate ability to pass between the realms, to open a gate to Aachan, after it was left open to the void due to the carlessness of Xesper the Aachim. This folly would eventually cause the troubles of all the Three Worlds. One hundred Charon survived the taking of Aachim, including Yalkara, and would become known as the Hundred. It was due to the actions of Rulke, Yalkara's enemy after her refusal to heed him about chthonic fire, alone that the Hundred were able to conquer the legions of Aachim. Yalkara would spend her time on Aachan, being tutored by the oldest of the Charon, Djalkmah, about the origins of her people, learning secrets that the other Charon did not know. The Charon proved not to be fecund on Aachan, which Yalkara learnt to be due to contamination by the chthonic fire. The other Charon however, believed it merely to be an unusual side effect of the Aachim environment. Hence Rulke summoned Shuthdar from Santhenar to Aachan, so as to have him create the Golden Flute, which would allow the Charon to roam free between the Three Worlds, as they believed they would be able to concieve better on Tallallame or Santhenar; though Yalkara knew better she did not dissuade them. Shuthdar succeeded in creating the Flute, however he fled to Santhenar with it, sparking the hunt for the Golden Flute. Originally only two Charon, Rulke and Kandor, ventured to Santhenar, with a host of Aachim slaves, as well as several Aachim-Charon blendings. However, after the Charon remaining on Aachan learnt of the arrival of another human species on Santhenar, the Faellem, Yalkara pleaded with the Council of the Charon to allow her to venture to Santhenar to keep watch on them. The Council agreed and Yalkara became the third Charon to venture to Santhenar. The moment Yalkara and the leader of the Faellem, Faelamor, met, each saw in the other the great enemy of their life. Both Yalkara and Faelamor felt as though the other had been sent to personally oppose the others purposes. Yalkara was present at the death of Shuthdar, where she secretly created the Forbidding to protect Santhenar from the void. However, it also marooned the off-world human species on Santhenar. Yalkara was first to enter the remains of Huling's Tower, where she found the melted pool of gold that the Flute had become at Shuthdar's death. To conceal that she had found the gold, Yalkara used her Art to fashion it into the form of her trademark jewellery, which was made of the same type of Aachan gold. She was also forced to kill a young crippled girl, Fiachra, who had survived the damage caused at the Flute's destruction, due to an enchantment of Shuthdar's and had accidently seen what Yalkara had done. Sometime during the Clysm, Yalkara met the love of her life; Gyllias. The two would be lovers for an entire age and Gyllias would write the tales of the four great battles of Yalkara and Faelamor. During the fall of Tar Gaarn, Yalkara would venture within and steal the Mirror of Aachan. Sometime after she and Gyllias would dwell together at Yalkara's fortress, Havissard, where an enchantment she placed upon it would cause Gyllias not to age, despite being old human. Yalkara would bend the Mirror to her will and had planned to find within it a way to restore the balance between the worlds after having dissolved the Forbidding. However, while pregnant with Gyllias's child, Yalkara fought her last and greatest battle with Faelamor in the ruins of Tar Gaarn. Faelamor forced Yalkara to reveal that the secret of creating gates lay within the Mirror, which could be used to return the Faellem home. Faelamor had defeated Yalkara, injuring her gravely, though Yalkara had managed to make Faelamor believe that it was Yalkara who had been victorious. Yalkara fled to Havissard, where she, alone, gave birth to a daughter; Aeolior. She locked the Mirror from any but herself and Aeolior, leaving both it and her real Aachan gold jewellery, not that of the Golden Flute, as Aeolior's birthright to use to safely dismantal the Forbidding. Gravely wounded from her encounter with Faelamor, Yalkara was forced to flee to Aachan, through a warp in the Forbidding, so as to gain the aid of her people to heal. Several years later, Yalkara secretly entered the Nightland, where Rulke had seven hundred years previously been imprisoned and mated with him, though they were enemies. She then birthed a child within the Nightland; Emberr. Time of the Mirror Three hundred years after Yalkara fled Santhenar, Rulke would make contact with her through his construct, having finally escaped the Nightland. She would learn that her daughter Aeolior had died, however had given birth to a daughter herself, Maigraith; who was triune due to the forced mating of Aeolior to Galgilliel by Faelamor. Rulke urged Yalkara to send the last of the fertile Charon through to Santhenar. However, Rulke was beset by Faelamor and unable to protect the Charon from thranx who had also breached the failing Forbidding. The fertile Charon were killed, as was Rulke himself by his long time nemesis; Tensor. Maigraith would ride Rulke's great construct with his body attached to it, as they had become lovers, through the Way Between the Worlds, to Aachan. She would subsequently break the Forbidding, using her mother Aeolior's birthright, sealing the Three Worlds off from intervention seemingly forever. Due to her grief at Rulke's death, Maigraith would slip into a fever, however, when she awoke Yalkara informed her that she had been impregnated by Rulke before his death. Yalkara and the rest of the Charon then spent several monthes creating a powerful device capable of sending Maigraith back to Santhenar and them to the void, where they had voted to return, so as to face their extinction. Yalkara led her people to their fate, after having successfully sent her granddaughter home, taking Rulke's body with them. Maintaining the Nightland It was believed for over two centuries that Yalkara had died along with the other Charon in the void. However, after the last of her people had gone to their grave, Yalkara set herself to the greatest task of her life; maintaining the Nightland, which was decaying, so as to protect her son, Emberr, who could not yet leave it. Yalkara attempted to return to the Three Worlds, by means of a gate, but found that maintaining the Nightland had greatly weakened her great Arts. She was forced to use them to influence a great mancer of Santhenar, Xervish Flydd. She sensed he was on the run from the newly proclaimed God-Emperor and directed him to Mistmurk Mountain, where long ago she had hidden the chthonic fire that had ensured the extinction of her people. Folly revealed However, Flydd proved much stronger than Yalkara had sensed and from such a great distance and so gravely weakened, she was unable to take control of him; only influence him. Nine years after Yalkara directed Flydd to Mistmurk Mountain, her opportunity to perform a mind-merge with Flydd finally appeared. Flydd was forced to take renewal as he had grown old and weak, yet was crucial in Santhenar's fight against the God-Emepror. Because of Flydd's vulnerability during renewal, Yalkara attempted to take complete control of Flydd. However, Yalkara's intervention during renewal caused great trauma to Flydd and he incidently passed his Art to Maelys Nifferlin in the confusion. Flydd was able to reclaim his Art and began to recognize that a woman in red was influencing him during his escape from Mistmurk Mountain which had come under attack from the forces of the God-Emperor. Flydd followed the advice of Yalkara, though he did not yet know her identity, though warily. Flydd planned to open the way to the shadow realm, a place not so far removed from the Nightland, where Yalkara hoped to create a gate to, so as to protect her son from the revenants of the Stilkeen which were ever closer to discovering him. Hence, Yalkara schooled Flydd in the Art of creating gates. She also ensured he had the Arts he required at every critical point of his escape. Unfortunatly a tiny chink has appeared in Yalkara's psyche and he discovered the chthonic fire Yalkara had hidden beneath the mountain long ago. Even after all of Yalkara's influence, Flydd still proceeded to create a gate to the shadow realm, and Yalkara was forced to use her Art's to rip control of the gate out of Flydd's grasp and direct it to the Nightland. The pain of such a feat nearly killed Yalkara and she was unable to reach the portal in time. Yalkara continued to hunt Flydd and when he created a gate to escape the Nightland, she latched onto it, riding it to Santhenar as it only allowed one way travel. Yalkara disguised herself as Bellulah and spent the night with Flydd, though he did not know that "Bellulah" was in fact the mysterious woman in red he had been influenced by. They were soon attacked by the God-Emepror's troops and Yalkara, still disguised, was forced to protect Flydd, who was injured. However, when he made his next portal, which she planned to sieze and direct at the Nightland, she was too weak, once again, to reach it in time. The next portal Yalkara sensed was made by the Numinator, rather than Flydd, and the Numinator was too quick for Yalkara to seize her portal. However, Flydd soon created another one and Yalkara seized it and rode it to the Isle of Noom. There she explained to Flydd and Yggur all that she had done; her powers were too diminished to create a portal herself and as such she had used Flydd to do it for her. She had slept with Flydd, disguised as Bellulah, as repayment for her use of him. Yalkara then directed the portal to the Nightland and in the cottage of her son met Maelys Nifferlin and the Numinator; who she immediatly recognized as her granddaughter Maigraith. The Numinator was not pleased to see Yalkara, as since their last meeting she had grown increasingly bitter that Yalkara had taken Rulke's body to the void with her. Yalkara found her son, Emberr, apparently sleeping, naked on the floor of his cottage. She proceeded to appologise for having taken so long, two hundred and twenty years, to come to his aid, as maintaing the Nightland had drained her so completely. The Numinator was incensed by the revelation that Yalkara had slept with Rulke, resulting in Emberr, though she had yet to meet him at the time it happened. It soon became clear to Yalkara that Emberr was dead. Maelys explained that the chthonic fire that had covered her body, when she originally came to the Nightland, had been absorbed by Emberr as they had made love and he suddenly died. Yalkara was devastated by this blow, but was determined to have any child that may have come of the union of Maelys and Emberr. Yalkara bestowed a protective charm on Maelys and they returned to the Isle of Noom through the gate. The Numinator attempted to seize Maelys, now that they were back in the seat of her power, however, Flydd quickly created a portal and they escaped to Gendrigore, from where Maelys had been contacted telepathically by Tulitine. Yalkara appeared there shortly after the others who had gone through the gate and demanded that the God-Emepror surrender the Profane Tears to her, so that she could amplify her power and defeat the Stilkeen, which she had discovered had entered the Nightland when Flydd originally created a gate there and had since escaped. The Stilkeen promptly appeared and took the God-Emepror hostage for the chthonic fire, which Yalkara had stolen millenia ago. Yalkara's folly was revealed by the Numinator and the two both attempt to kidnap Maelys and escape the battle that was to occur between the company and the Imperial Militia, headed by Klarm now that the God-Emperor had been taken hostage. However, Yggur snatched Maelys out of the way and used his Art to call the disc that the Numinator had used to teleport to Gendrigore, into her place. Both Yalkara and the Numinator collided with the disc and disappeared in a flash of light. Final Battle After being transported from Gendrigore, Yalkara and the Numinator engaged in a deady duel. During this they, along with the rest of Santhenar, watched as Stilkeen proclaimed that should it not have pure chthonic fire returned to it within fifteen days, it would open the void into Santhenar. Yalkara continued to battle her deranged granddaughter, however, she was defeated and escaped knowing that her once great Arts were failing along with her life force. Yalkara travelled to Morrelune, battered and bruised, where she found Maelys. Using her fading powers Yalkara was horrified to find thatm, somehow, Maelys' unborn child was entirely old human. Her finale hopes for the Charon exstinguished, Yalkara seemed to age years, though she helped Yggur and Maelys to unlock the pure chthonic fire within her taphloid. Shortly after, the Numinator appeared and goaded Stilkeen into attacking Yalkara, who, in an attempt to make amends for her wrong doing, swallowed the pure fire which fed on her departing life force and ensured that it became strong enough to reunite the Stilkeen with its revenants. After Yalkara's death, Yggur used the fire that had fed on Yalkara's life force to destroy Stilkeen's revenants which forced the Stilkeen to leave Santhenar; never to return. Personality and Traits In her prime, Yalkara was a tall woman, taller than most old human men, with a dark complexion and raven black hair. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of indigo, while her face was described as long, strong featured and handsome. She spoke with a somewhat raspy voice. Some time after returning to Aachan, in 307 BTM, and giving a portion of her long-life to Gyllias, Yalkara's hair turned a shade of silver, though she remained handsome and statuesque. She was extremely physically strong, like all Charon, which did not diminish over the long millenia of her life. Much like Rulke, Yalkara rarely put her own wants and needs before those of her species. Rather than return to Santhenar to be with the love of her life, Gyllias, Yalkara bowed to the wishes of her people and instead led them to their extinction in the void. Like most Charon, Yalkara also viewed her species as infinitely superior to the other three human species and went to great lengths to ensure its survival. However, unlike most other Charon, Yalkara eventually realized that her species never had a chance of survival and that its destiny was to mate with the other species; creating a new species all together. Powers and Abilities As a member of the Charon, Yalkara was blessed with exceptionally long life; though she aged faster than was natural for the Charon, due to having given a portion of her life to Gyllias. She was also incredibly agile, being able to move much faster than her much younger granddaughter, the Numinator. For all her physical strength, Yalkara possesed incredible strength with the Secret Art. Protective spells: *Yalkara was clearly a master of protective spells; it was she that created the Forbidding, that protected the Three Worlds from the void from 3,500 BTM until 2 ATM. *After fleeing from Santhenar in 307 BTM, an enchantment devised by Yalkara, protected Havissard from external penetration for approximatly three hundred and nine years, before it decayed enough to be successfully breached. *Yalkara also placed a protective charm over Maelys Nifferlin, which served to ensure she survived the portion of the Battle of Gendrigore she participated in entirely unscathed. Mastery of Chthonic fire: *It was Yalkara who first discovered chthonic fire, and hence she was its true master. When the Whelm sorcerer, Zofloc animated the dead with the use of distilled chthonic fire, Yalkara was easily able to reverse his enchantment with a simple hand gesture. Gates: *Prior to expending her power by sustaining the Nightland, Yalkara was a master of gates. However, after using her power to sustain the Nightland, she was diminished and no longer able to create gates of her own accord. However, her strength was such that she was able to seize control of gates created by others. Mirror of Aachan: *Yalkara was the only person that the Mirror of Aachan was unable to deceive. Through the Mirror, Yalkara learnt many secrets, including how to take advantage of a warp in the Forbidding. Spell of transformation: *Yalkara was able to use the Art to alter her appearance. She appeared to Xervish Flydd as Bellulah, while she altered her appearance subtley when in the presence of the Stilkeen, decieving the immortal being as to her identity. Mind-merge/Mind-control: *She was proficient at using her Art to speak into the minds of other people, so subtley that they were often unaware of her presence. *Yalkara spoke into the mind of Xervish Flydd for approximately nine years and was able to influence him to the point that he unknowingly did her being. Appearances *''A Shadow on the Glass'' (First mentioned) *''The Tower on the Rift'' (Mentioned only) *''Dark is the Moon'' (Mentioned only) *''The Way Between the Worlds'' (First appearance) *''Geomancer'' (Mentioned only) *''The Curse on the Chosen'' *''Destiny of the Dead'' Category:Characters Category:VftM Characters Category:SotT Characters Category:Charon Category:Mancers Category:Females Category:Murderers